|
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
|
Issue of 2024‒06‒17
four papers chosen by |
| By: | John List |
| Abstract: | Once believed to be an impossibility, field experiments in economics now occupy a central place in the empiricist's quiver. In the past few decades alone field experiments have taken on much greater import in academe, across organizations, as well as for policymakers. But is this emergence simply a fad that will soon return field experiments to obscurity? I argue in this article that there is something fundamental about the emergence of field experiments, as controlling the assignment mechanism in the field provides unparalleled power to both understand the "effects of causes" and the "causes of effects." This knowledge generation then begins to uncover the generalizability and scalability of knowledge. Quite the opposite of a withering tool that will be gone tomorrow, I urge economists to "double down" on this comparative advantage and in doing so I provide four methodological paths which I hope will cement the promise and growth of field experiments in the social sciences. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:natura:00788&r= |
| By: | Paul Hufe (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Converging labor market opportunities of men and women have altered the economic incentives for how families invest monetary and time resources into the skill development of their children. In this paper, I study the causal impact of changes in the parental wage gap (PWG)—defined as the relative difference in potential wages of mothers and fathers—on children’s socio-emotional skills. I leverage administrative and survey data from Germany to create exogenous between-sibling variation in the PWG through a shift-share design. I find that decreases in the PWG do not affect children’s socio-emotional development as measured by their Big Five personality traits and externalizing/internalizing behaviors. This null effect can be rationalized by the offsetting effects of the PWG on monetary investments, i.e., more disposable household income that is increasingly controlled by mothers, and time investments, i.e., a substitution from in-home maternal care to informal childcare. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, skill development, parental investments |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2024-010&r= |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Simon Johnson |
| Abstract: | David Ricardo initially believed machinery would help workers but revised his opinion, likely based on the impact of automation in the textile industry. Despite cotton textiles becoming one of the largest sectors in the British economy, real wages for cotton weavers did not rise for decades. As E.P. Thompson emphasized, automation forced workers into unhealthy factories with close surveillance and little autonomy. Automation can increase wages, but only when accompanied by new tasks that raise the marginal productivity of labor and/or when there is sufficient additional hiring in complementary sectors. Wages are unlikely to rise when workers cannot push for their share of productivity growth. Today, artificial intelligence may boost average productivity, but it also may replace many workers while degrading job quality for those who remain employed. As in Ricardo’s time, the impact of automation on workers today is more complex than an automatic linkage from higher productivity to better wages. |
| JEL: | B12 J23 O14 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32416&r= |
| By: | Daniel J. Benjamin; David Cesarini; Patrick Turley; Alexander Strudwick Young |
| Abstract: | Rapid progress has been made in identifying links between human genetic variation and social and behavioral phenotypes. Applications in mainstream economics are beginning to emerge. This review aims to provide the background needed to bring the interested economist to the frontier of social-science genomics. Our review is structured around a theoretical framework that nests many of the key methods, concepts and tools found in the literature. We clarify key assumptions and appropriate interpretations. After reviewing several significant applications, we conclude by outlining future advances in genetics that will expand the scope of potential applications, and we discuss the ethical and communication challenges that arise in this area of research. |
| JEL: | D87 I1 Q57 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32404&r= |